June 2023 Newsletter
Healing the earth, one yard at a time.
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Gardening is for the Birds!
with Mary Ann Borge
Monday, June 12, 2023
6:00 pm EDT
Live via Zoom.
Free and open to the public.
Birds need food, shelter, nesting sites and nesting materials in order to survive. Learn how to make simple changes in your garden that will transform it into a year-round haven for birds by providing these essential elements.
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Do you want to receive a reminder email
in advance of our free public programs?
Under the Programs & Events tab, click on Calendar.
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Certificate in Native Plants Classes |
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The Certificate in Native Plants program is designed to expand students' knowledge of botany, ecology, conservation and uses of native flora in the southeastern United States. The CNP offers a blend of classroom instruction, hands-on learning and guided hikes. Participants are required to complete four core classes, eight electives, and 40 hours of volunteering for approved native plant projects. Classes are open to Wild Ones members and non-members, whether or not you are pursuing the certificate.
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Native Landscape Management |
Instructor: John Magee
Saturday, July 8, 2023
9:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT
Live via Zoom
ELECTIVE Class
(4 credits for the Certificate in Native Plants)
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More 2023 CNP classes will be announced soon!
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Tennessee Valley Chapter
Members-Only Events
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Saturday, June 17, 2023
10:00 am - 12:45 pm EDT
Private visits to gardens of Wild Ones members in the Chattanooga area.
Free to members of Tennessee Valley Wild Ones chapter
ONLY 2 SPACES LEFT!
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Members-Only Hike
Couchville Cedar Glades State Natural Area
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Saturday, June 24, 2023
Dennis Horn, hike leader
Free to members of Tennessee Valley Wild Ones chapter
This unique area supports an abundance of Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis), which is in recovery and now delisted from prior endangered species status.
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Saturday, July 15, 2023
9:00 - 12:00 pm EDT
Private visit to a garden of a Wild Ones member in the Flintstone GA area.
Free to members of Tennessee Valley Wild Ones chapter
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Crabtree Farms is currently in need of volunteers for education programs/field trips this summer and fall, especially for pollination and seed dispersal lessons and activities.
Crabtree farms is a non-profit urban farm located in downtown Chattanooga that is committed to education, food access and sustainable agriculture. We grow fresh produce and plant starts for the greater Chattanooga area and we offer educational opportunities for all ages and abilities.
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More Programs, Classes & Activities |
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Celebrate with us June 19th-25th, 2023! National Pollinator Week is an annual event celebrated internationally in support of pollinator health. It's a time to celebrate pollinators and spread the word about what we can do to protect them.
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Wild Ones Cosponsoring
New Directions in the American Landscape's
Summer Education Series
Wild Ones is proud to be a co-sponsor of New Directions in the American Landscape's Ecology-based Landscape Practice 6-part intensive course with Larry Weaner and Ian Caton!
Join influential Landscape Designer Larry Weaner and native plant expert Ian Caton as they explore the integration of restoration ecology and fine garden design.
Registration is open now for the full bundle or individual sessions. Classes begin July 11 and continue for 6 weeks.
Recordings will be viewable for 3 months after each live session date.
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Monarch Joint Venture - Free Webinars
Participate in these great educational opportunities for butterfly conservation!
MJV is hosting a free, monthly "Butterfly Conservation Webinar Series" featuring unique opportunities to hear from experts across various interdisciplinary fields related to monarchs, other pollinators, their habitats, and the threats and pressures that make conservation urgent. Bring your questions and get ready to discover how you can get involved to protect monarchs.
Coming up:
- June 27: Implications of Movement Ecology in Conservation Planning for Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus), presented by Dr. Kelsey Fisher of Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
Webinars will be held on the 4th Tuesday of the month. Please register to receive the webinar link.
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Monarch Joint Venture - Miles for Monarchs
Miles for Monarchs encourages you to run, walk, hike, bike, swim, or paddle in support of monarch conservation!
Remember the millions of monarch butterflies that embark on a fall migration from the northern U.S. and Canada to central Mexico and a spring migration back to northern U.S. and Canada by registering for Miles for Monarchs. You can register to track your mileage individually or with a team. By registering you will gain access to the Miles for Monarchs newsletter and be a part of an online community of those who seek to support conservation and be active!
Miles for Monarchs 2023 campaign will take place in the spring and fall to represent the seasonal migrations of monarchs. The spring "migration" will be hosted from May 22 - June 25. The fall "migration" will be hosted from August 28 - October 1. The spring registration deadline is June 18.
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Go Birding with
the New York Times
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Our understanding of birds has been profoundly shaped by the work of everyday people. After all, anyone can step outside and pay attention to an untamed world swooping above.
This summer, the New York Times is inviting readers around the world to participate in a science project in collaboration with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Volunteers will gather observations about the birds around us, filling in data gaps and giving researchers a clearer picture of biodiversity in places that birders frequent less.
It’s important work. Nearly half of all bird species worldwide are known or suspected to be in decline, and climate change could accelerate this trend. By gathering data like this, you’ll help inform decisions about the conservation and study of birds.
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Regional Wild Ones Chapters |
Wild Ones is growing in Tennessee and the Southeast! Check out the events at nearby chapters! |
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The virtual webinars presented by Wild Ones, as well as virtual public programs presented by the Tennessee Valley chapter are available online. They are excellent educational resources for learning about landscaping with native plants. |
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The Tennessee Native Plant Society hosts monthly Native Plant Seminars. These events are held via Zoom on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm Eastern (6:30 pm Central) and last about one hour. All members, and potential members, are welcome to join the seminars at no cost. If you miss the live seminar, you can usually watch the video by clicking on “VIDEO” next to the seminar listing on the webpage.
Coming up on June 20 – Dennis Whigham on Native Orchids in Tennessee – Ecology & Conservation Needs
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Mother Yards and the Native Plant Sharing Network
Dennis Bishop (Tennessee Valley Wild Ones Board Member) writes: Then the thought came to me, “We are the Native Plant Nursery.” Every yard inhabited by self-conserving native plants is a birthing place, a mother yard with progeny to share freely with others. I’ve been observing our community’s mother yards for several years now, and I am persuaded that they are not only easily doable and repeatable — they have the potential to restore native landscapes at a scale not possible by our current reliance on retail nurseries for plants.
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Noticing the distinctions between conifers is an important skill if you want to learn how to identify trees. Tree identification skills are important if you want to improve your ecological literacy. To get you started, Adam Haritan created a video in which he shows the major differences between conifers.
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Get Out in Your Yard and Count Insects
Much of the understanding of the global threats to species comes from community science: everyday people who share their observations and record their sightings online. In a study out of Wisconsin a few years ago, for example, people curious about the impacts of mowing their lawns discovered that biodiversity was five times higher in the month of May if they left their lawns to grow. Anyone can coordinate their own short-term efforts, or “bioblitzes,” to catalog as much of the biodiversity in their neighborhood as they can.
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Ditch Traditional Mulch for Plants
On his latest Growing Greener podcast episode, host and sustainable gardener Thomas Christopher discusses living mulch with leading landscape designer Larry Weaner.
A wise nugget from the episode: Did you know that a dense ground layer of plants will suppress weeds far more effectively than a layer of mulch, not to mention foster much richer wildlife habitat?
It’s one thing to know this tidbit, but quite another to more deeply understand the ecological processes that govern this approach. And how does the ecological gardener deal with the weeds that do encroach?
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Bees can learn, remember, think and make decisions – here’s a look at how they navigate the world
Most bees lead solitary lives, digging nests in the ground or finding abandoned beetle burrows in dead wood to call home.
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Ditch Your Spade and Forget the Fertilizer:
A Guide to Laid-Back Gardening
Itching to whip your flowerbeds or veg patch into shape now spring has finally arrived? Not so fast! Life’s much easier when you work with nature rather than against it.
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Azure Bluets (Houstonia caerulea)
This small, delicate perennial is found growing in compact tufts, 8 in. high. The plants may cover broad expanses. Tiny flowers are pale blue with yellow centers. Photo by Mike O'Brien
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Small's Ragwort (Packera anonyma)
Small's Ragwort is a native wildflower in the Aster family that is found in a variety of drier habitats in much of the eastern United States. It often flourishes in habitats that are wet during the winter and dry in summer. As one of the first native flowers to bloom in abundance, it is a favorite of the uncommon early-season butterflies (elfins and hairstreaks) and several bees and beetles. It is also a host plant to some moths. Photo by Mike O'Brien.
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Soft Lined Wave Moth (Scopula inductata)
The wingspan is 0.79–0.98 in. The wings are light yellowish gray, crossed by several gray wavy lines. The outer edges of the wings are rounded. There is a black dot present near the middle of each wing. The larvae feed on Aster, Trifolium, Taraxacum, Ambrosia and Melilotus species. Photo by Mike O'Brien.
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Male Zabulon Skipper, guarding its territory
Wingspan: 1 - 1½ inches (2.5 - 3.5 cm). Males and females of the Zabulon Skipper have distinctly different color patterns. The male is a small to medium-sized skipper. It is yellowish to yellowish-orange in color with dark brown along the upper and lower wing margins. Photo by Mike O'Brien.
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Gray Fox
A couple weeks ago in mid-May, Mike O'Brien was looking for butterflies in the high grass of a field, and he happened upon this Gray Fox hunting grasshoppers. It caught quite a few! Mike observed it for about 10 minutes, stood very still, and took telephoto shots from about 60-70 feet away. The fox eventually saw Mike (second photo above) and headed quickly and quietly into the woods.
Notice the thin black line down the center of its back which widens onto the tail and then ends in a black tail tip, typical markings for this Gray Fox species. Reddish around the nape of its neck is also characteristic. This species of fox is quite adept at climbing trees, an unusual ability for a canine. They are most active at twilight and at night, sleeping during the day. It is said to have somewhat cat-like facial features. Photos by Mike O'Brien.
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Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar (5th instar)
on Common Milkweed (Asclepais syriaca)
Monarch larvae, or caterpillars, feed exclusively on milkweed leaves. A monarch is a caterpillar for 7-17 days. There are five molting intervals (called instars) between the egg and the pupa stage. Monarch larvae have two different kinds of legs, true and false. Like all insects, the caterpillars have six true legs. They are attached to the thorax. The false legs, or prolegs, are attached to the abdomen and are only present during the caterpillar stage. With the 4th instars one can begin to see something special -- their fake legs (prolegs) now have a small white dot on them. When the monarch caterpillar reaches the 5th instar, it has become long and plump, ranging in length from 1 to 1.77″. Their black stripes look soft and velvety. Those white dots on the prolegs REALLY stand out. Photo by Nora Bernhardt.
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Cooper's Hawk
Adult Cooper's Hawks are steely blue-gray above with warm reddish bars on the underparts and thick dark bands on the tail. Birders are often dismayed when a hawk visits their yard, but encouraging hawks is actually the gold standard of backyard birding. Because hawks are naturally rare and raptors require a rich, vibrant ecosystem to thrive, attracting hawks is an excellent achievement that illustrates just how bird-friendly a yard can be. Photo by Nora Bernhardt.
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Becoming a Wild Ones member shows your commitment to the native plant movement and is a great way to connect with a helpful and knowledgeable native plant community that will prove invaluable in your native garden journey!
Benefits of a Wild Ones membership include:
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Access to the current electronic issue of the quarterly Wild Ones Journal
- Invitations to workshops, garden tours, seed exchanges, plants sales, and stewardship project
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Discounts for partner educational webinars such as NDAL, etc. and Wild Ones chapter programs
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Participation in an annual national photo contest
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Access to the Wild Ones Member Center for learning resources
- Participation in Wild for Monarchs and Native Garden recognition programs
- Involvement in citizen science and networking with conservation partners
- Receiving Wild Ones National e-Newsletters
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Invitation to Wild Ones' private Facebook discussion group and the national Wild Ones Annual Member Meeting
- Networking opportunities and camaraderie with like-minded people who care about native plants and our planet
Additional benefits for members of the Tennessee Valley chapter:
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Discounted admission to all Certificate in Native Plants classes year-round.
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Discounted admission to the annual Plant Natives Symposium in the spring.
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Free admission at members-only programs, including local and regional guided hikes, garden visits (Landscapes in Progress), the annual meeting, an annual plant swap, and other member social events.
- Access to the chapter's Member Directory, so you can connect with other members.
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Annual Welcome Party and Orientation for new members.
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Monthly email Member Update, with news about chapter activities.
- All members of the family who live at the same address are entitled to member benefits!
Your membership dollars help forward our mission of promoting the restoration of native landscapes by allowing us to:
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Provide free, educational resources and learning opportunities that are open to the public from respected experts like Wild Ones Honorary Directors Doug Tallamy, Neil Diboll, Heather Holm and Donna VanBuecken
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Support the efforts of over 65 local Wild Ones chapters in 23 states
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Publish a quarterly, award-winning, online journal featuring current native plant information and resources
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Share free, professionally-designed native garden templates for multiple regions in the United States.
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Upcoming Calendar of Events |
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To view all upcoming programs, classes and events presented by the Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones, click below: |
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Get More Involved with Us! |
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The Tennessee Valley Chapter of Wild Ones is 100% volunteer run!
Here are a few ways you can get more involved in the chapter
and in our Chattanooga Pollinator Partnership.
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Follow our chapter on social media: |
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